ARTICLES ABOUT JUDICIAL CONDUCT BOARD BY DATE - PAGE 4

He openly bemoaned that his dogs had more sex than he did. He drank and cursed on the job. He fixed a speeding ticket for a buddy, and patted his secretary on the buttocks. For those indiscretions, and others, Emmaus District Justice Brad Timbers was stripped of his robe in 1996, after first receiving a suspension. As it turns out, Timbers has become the poster child for Pennsylvania's new system of disciplining judges: A wayward member of the bench was given a chance to change his ways, blew it, and was kicked from office.

by MARIO F. CATTABIANI, The Morning Call Staff writer Aminah Franklin contributed to this story | March 27, 1997

Emmaus District Justice Bradford Timbers was permanently stripped of his robe Wednesday, ending a troubled tenure in which he spent twice as much time on suspension as he did on the bench. In a one-page order, the state Court of Judicial Discipline also barred Timbers, 37, from ever holding judicial office again. "Today's order concludes a sad chapter in the history of the judicial system," said Vincent Quinn, chief counsel of the state's Judicial Conduct Board, which brought misconduct charges against Timbers.

Judges will have to begin judging themselves. Complaints of judges not making prompt decisions, with people's lives and livelihoods hanging in the balance, have led the state Supreme Court to change the way common pleas court judges report their late decisions. The changes are designed to encourage judges to make quicker decisions and to get help when they fall behind. They are also intended to discourage delays with the threat of possible disciplinary action. The result should be improved accountability of judges and an increase in prompt, efficient disposition of cases, said Chief Justice John P. Flaherty.

However one sorts out the tangled issues of alcoholism, personal responsibility and professional ethics in the sad case of District Justice Bradford Timbers, it has become clear that the taxpayers have a grievance. Their grievance, almost a year after Mr. Timbers was suspended from his duties, is more against the state's inability to handle this case in a timely manner than against the troubled official himself. On Nov. 2, 1994, the state Supreme Court suspended Mr. Timbers from his duties as the district justice serving Emmaus and Upper Milford Township after he was accused of being intoxicated on the job, slapping a female employee on the buttocks, trying to fix a friend's speeding ticket and other misconduct.

A state disciplinary court yesterday ordered Lehigh County District Justice Bradford Timbers to face trial on charges of judicial misconduct, rejecting an agreement in which he would admit to some charges in exchange for others being dropped. The Court of Judicial Discipline ruled that the agreement lacks sufficient legal basis for withdrawing some charges and letting others stand. Timbers, whose district encompasses Emmaus and Upper Milford Township, was suspended with pay in November 1994 amid allegations of misconduct, including drinking on the job, slapping a co-worker's buttocks, trying to fix a friend's speeding ticket and using sexually explicit, vulgar language in open court.

Suspended Lehigh County District Justice Bradford Timbers, plagued by charges of judicial misconduct, has entered into a plea agreement of sorts. Timbers' lawyer, Emil Giordano, and the state disciplinary board that lodged charges against Timbers in July together drafted a stipulation of facts, which is akin to a plea agreement in a criminal case. Among other things, Timbers, 36, was charged with trying to fix a friend's speeding ticket, slapping a co-worker's buttocks and drinking on the job. In the stipulation of facts, Timbers admits to some of the allegations, Giordano said, and the Judicial Conduct Board agreed to dismiss others, he said.

A state disciplinary board has charged a Lehigh County district justice with judicial misconduct, including trying to fix a friend's speeding ticket, slapping a female co-worker's buttocks and drinking alcohol on the job. The charges filed by the Judicial Conduct Board against suspended District Justice Bradford C. Timbers, whose district encompasses Emmaus and Upper Milford Township, could result in his dismissal. The board's 42-count complaint filed Monday alleges that Timbers frequently arrived late to work, sometimes disheveled and smelling of alcohol; used vulgar, sexually explicit language in open court, and drank alcoholic beverages while on duty, sometimes becoming intoxicated.

Commonwealth Court has dismissed a complaint filed by a suspended district justice who challenged Lehigh County's hiring policies. Although the court threw out Bradford Timbers' complaint because he is no longer a district justice, he will be allowed to reinstate it if the suspension is lifted, said President Judge James Gardner Colins. Before Timbers was suspended in November for alleged judicial misconduct, he had taken Lehigh County to court because he claimed county policies infringed on his ability to hire and fire employees in his office.

A commissioner candidate charged yesterday that Bucks County's judges violated the state code of conduct by letting politics dictate their choice of a new county commissioner. Republican Thomas A. Lingenfelter said that if they do not reverse their decision and start over, he may file a complaint with the state Judicial Conduct Board or Court of Judicial Discipline. He said the judges listened only to the recommendation of the county GOP's executive committee in picking Michael G. Fitzpatrick on Tuesday to replace Commissioner Mark S. Schweiker.

District Justice Bradford Timbers has requested a 30-day leave of absence and said he will admit himself into a long-term alcohol treatment facility at an undisclosed location, Judge James Knoll Gardner said yesterday. Timbers' request comes three days after officials said he was drunk on night court duty and got into a shouting match with District Justice Diane Jepsen, calling her a "fat bitch," and using other obscene language. Gardner, the acting president judge of Lehigh County Court, said he would approve Timbers' formal written request, which he expects to get Monday.